Group of pottery model temples

Mexica*, AD 1325-1521
From Mexico

Most Mexica temples were razed to the ground by the
Spaniards. However, we do know what they looked like through
archaeological excavations, descriptions in sixteenth-century
chronicles and depictions in codices from the sixteenth century.
These pottery models add valuable details to our knowledge of
Mexica religious architecture.

Most temples consisted of a truncated, rectangular pyramid with
a stairway leading to a sanctuary erected on top. The stone used
for their construction was covered with stucco (plaster) and
painted. The miniature temple on the left is an example of this
standard plan. A sacrificial stone can be seen on the platform in
front of the shrine.

Some were round or semi-circular, like the miniature temple in
the middle here. These were the temples dedicated to Quetzalcoatl,
in his aspect as Ehecatl, the Wind God. The beak-shaped mask worn
by the figure on top of the platform is characteristic of
Ehecatl.

The Great Temple at Tenochtitlan, the Mexica capital, was a twin
temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the Mexica patron god (and god
of war) and to Tlaloc, the Rain God. Two stairways lead to each
sanctuary, the former with painted symbols in red and white and the
latter in blue and white.

*The people and culture we know as 'Aztec' referred to
themselves as the Mexica (pronounced Me-shee-ka).

E. Pasztory, Aztec art (New York, Abrams, 1983)

R.F. Townsend, The Aztecs (London, Thames and Hudson, 2000)

J.K. Kowalski, Mesoamerican architecture as a (Oxford University Press, 1999)

C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)